Bohm symphonie 500 (not sempra)

[Zenithporsche]

Hi All

Does anyone have any opinions on the Bohm symphonie 500, software not using the sempra software.

what are the quality of these instruments like and their sounds please. I like the look of these from their using real wood, but don't know how they compare sound wise to say the Wersi, Lowrey or Yamaha Stagea, all of which I have had personal experience with

Like to hear your thoughts

Mark

[abacus]

It's the same, better and worse than the organs you mention, (Just like the organs you mention are compared to the Bohm) as it all comes down to personal preference, thus you need to try before you buy.
As to the instruments themselves, the sound system and features are top notch, (Feature wise even Wersi falls behind and the rest you mention are way down the ladder) however they are not the most user friendly (The new Sempra models are way superior when it comes to the OS) which can put some users off. (On the upside you can have it upgraded to a Sempra model at a later stage if you wish)
Maybe not the answer you were expecting but there is no one size fits all. (Type the title into YouTube for demos)

Bill

PS, it wouldn't be the one that has recently popped up on the Allen's Music website, if so it also has a lot of software options which would cost a fair amount to add. (And so is one hell of an instrument at the right price)

[Zenithporsche]

Hi Bill

Do you know this organ.....yes it is the one at Allens

What would you think is a sensible price?

How do you know about the software options?

cheers

mark

[abacus]

The first picture under the main picture shows you the list

Bill

[seamaster]

Magnificent organ, but my view of Böhm (at least, prior the Sempra range) is that they're rather more impressive to see than to hear.

I shudder to think of the haircut the previous owner's taken on it.

[Claus]

Hi!

Which price do they offer? It has the additional Accordion Fascination pack, all other packs, like Church organ, Theatre organ, sound editors etc. have been standard on a Sinfonia.
It could be upgraded to SEMPRA, including the new RealOrgan drawbar system, of course.

regards,
Claus

[Zenithporsche]

What is the cost to upgrade to the Sempra Claus?

Allens are offering I think at £15000. What would the price of this been approx new?

thanks

[Zenithporsche]

This is the spec on the organ see attached.

Am I correct in thinking it has a usb input on the front rather than a floppy disc?

[Claus]

Yes, it has the USB emulator in. You can see on the pictures. And this list belongs to the factory stick.

An upgrade including the new RealOrgan comes to nearly 11.000,- EUR.

The price of a new Sinfonia was about 36.000 EUR, like an SE80 today.

regards,
Claus

[Zenithporsche]

Hi Claus

How would you compare the 500 to the SE80 regarding realism of voices. Are they as good as the Yamaha Stagea, as I think these are some of the most realistic especially regarding the orchestral voices

[KRG]

I bought a Bohm Sinfonia 500 a few years ago having previously owned Roland 800, Yamaha AR80 and others. The Bohm surpasses all of the others by a country mile with perhaps one weakness. If you want it easy like driving an automatic Ford Focus go for another make but if you fancy the fun of a Porsche!!!! The operating system is not easy but then again it will do anything you want it to do and then some more. All Bohms sound the same but the Sempra is a much easier operating system but as Claus points out you have to pay for it and then you would have to buy upgrades for software that is standard in that Sinfonia. I think that the thing that makes a Bohm different is the attention to detail. For example I have two classical pipe organs and a theatre organ in mine (also in that Sinfonia). Yes there are preset registrations but you also have every voice rank available just as in a traditional organ. These voices can be assigned to anywhere on any keyboard with at least 8 voices on each. In addition you can couple keyboards etc. just as if you were using a proper organ. Whether you play church, theatre, draw-bars or other instruments you have loads of variations and if one is not quite as you want it you can always use the voice editor to give it a tweak. You can either afford one or not but that is the same with a Porsche and I believe their seats are expensive too.

[seamaster]

Better residuals on a Porsche.

[Zenithporsche]

What's the reliability like on these older Bohms please? Dealers don't seem to like them, keep taking them on for short periods of time here in the uk and then dropping the brand.....is it a reliability issue or just that they are such a niche market?

[Herbert]

I have never come across a more complicated operating system. Everything has to be a preset. There is no conductor system like on an Orla or Technics GA3 for example. Its impossible to play on the fly. If I was looking at an organ for that kind of money I would buy a stagea. Great sounds, totally reliable. Yamaha will still be supporting their instruments when Wersi and Bohm have long gone.

[abacus]

Bohm and Wersi follow the pro range of operation with their OS, (Virtually anything can be put anywhere rather than having pre-set sections) and while alien to the home user once you get the hang of it you will wonder why the rest of the home market doesn't follow the pro market.

People have been saying that for years; however Bohm & Wersi are still going whereas most of the other main organ marks have long gone.

Bill

[Claus]

I have never come across a more complicated operating system. Everything has to be a preset. There is no conductor system like on an Orla or Technics GA3 for example. Its impossible to play on the fly. If I was looking at an organ for that kind of money I would buy a stagea. Great sounds, totally reliable. Yamaha will still be supporting their instruments when Wersi and Bohm have long gone.

Should I play a few hours for you "on the fly" on my Böhm? :)

But of course it's true that you can't set all the options a Böhm offers directly in real time while playing. The comparison with the "conductor" organs mentioned above is of course considerably misleading. If I only have 3, 4, 5 sounds to distribute, then I can work with such a system. But if, as with Böhm, there are 10-20 sounds per manual and a variety of playing parameters can be used for each of them, not everything is possible in real time. You have to work with presets. But then you can do things that are not possible anywhere else.
By the way: Show me just one single stagea player, for example on YouTube, who plays that organ "on the fly". No one does! All of them use presets, many of them not even their own, but the registration sequences offered by Yamaha.

I have a lot of fun doing elaborate arrangements live on my Böhm. Of course, I use presets for this, which I have often invested a lot of time in before. But the result and the joy of the sonund result inspire me again and again. And with SEMPRA the user interface has now become as simple as it can be with an organ that offers so many playing options. I know many customers who used to have a lot of "respect" for the old operating system (although it was quite logical and manageable), but now on SEMPRA they suddenly enthusiastically create their own registrations and use all the possibilities of the organs because it is so much easier now.

[musicmaker84]

And while for some time I really was impressed by the Stagea et al performances, I find them boring in a way nowadays. I never get enough of drawbars though and what skilled people are able to get out of an organ "on the fly".

[andyg]

FWIW, as the GA3's been mentioned, I did some concerts on it totally on the fly back in the day. A bit of thought and knowledge of what's where and it's possible for the pro. Easier with things set up? Of course. But I eventually made up a 'basic settings' disk. One bank, with a couple of presets, just to get the organ where I wanted it.

And, knowing my way around the larger Rolands, I can play them on the fly as well. Again, that bank of 'vanilla' settings comes in handy, but I can manage without it.

EL series? Done it, but I do prefer to have a whole bank of 16 setups. Stagea? Can't comment, haven't played one for more than a few minutes.

[Zenithporsche]

Regarding operating systems on the Bohm, how do you go about loading in sounds and creating a preset?

Ive had Lowrey, Yamaha, Roland and Wersi organs/workstations at present and in the past, and none can be used on the fly if you want to use them to full potential, this is the difficulty these days. Many people listen to the pros play at concerts etc on any organs including stageas, but don't seem to realise how many hours have gone into setting up the presets to play the concert sets.

Yes makes like Lowrey have many factory presets and style settings, but in my opinion, when you come to doing your own arrangements etc you have to set up the organ to what you want and use the presets.

Perhaps a question for Claus, how exactly do you set up the Bohm we are discussing above for the presets.

One other thing I've noticed on the videos of the great Mark Whale playing (rip), is that he changes the presets on the buttons top left of the console. Can the presets be changed by programming the switches on the foot pedal?

Cheers

[abacus]

Programming is pretty much the same as a Wersi, just way more flexible as you can assign pretty much anything where you want and save it in a pre-set. (Real-time controls are in abundance)

Bill